Researchers in Ras Al Khaimah have devised a password system based on geographical information that they claim is almost uncrackable, the Register reported.

ZSS-Research has proposed a method where users would choose a location, anywhere in the world, and then draw a virtual boundary around it. The boundary would consist of longitude, latitude, altitude, area of the enclosed space, its perimeter length, sides, angles, radius and other features, which are then used to form a password. That password would also be salted and hashed.

"Proposing an effective replacement of conventional passwords could reduce 76% of data breaches, based on an analysis of more than 47,000 reported security incidents," ZSS researcher Ziyad Al-Salloum wrote in an open research paper in the International Journal of Security and Networks.

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Al-Salloum also explained that a global map could have as many as 360bn "tiles" at 20-times zoom covering an essentially limitless number of "unguessable" passwords.

Al-Salloum's team could face resistance when trying to introduce their password system. Security professionals are increasingly recommending two-factor authentication (2FA) as the best means of securing digital assets.